InfraGard Buffalo Members Alliance, Inc.

InfraGard is a partnership between the FBI and the private sector that began in 1996. It is an association of persons who represent businesses, academic institutions, state and local law enforcement agencies, and other participants dedicated to sharing information and intelligence to prevent hostile acts against the U.S. In 2003, the private sector members of InfraGard formed the “InfraGard National Members Alliance” (INMA). The INMA is a non-profit Corporation with a 501(c)3 status. The INMA is comprised of 84 separate 501(c)3 InfraGard Member Alliances (IMAs) that represent over 45,000 InfraGard Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) nationwide. 

InfraGard Buffalo Members Alliance, Inc. (IBMA) works in partnership with the Buffalo FBI field office at One FBI Plaza, Buffalo, NY 14202. Our members are individuals who have been vetted by the FBI for Official Use Only (FOUO) and Law Enforcement Sensitive (LES) information. Our Chapter is continually growing and has over 450 members governed by our Board of Directors.

At the chapter level, members meet to discuss threats and other matters that impact critical infrastructure. The meetings—led by a local governing board and an FBI agent who serves as InfraGard coordinator—give everyone an opportunity to share experiences and best practices.

Find out more below and join for free: Membership

What is InfraGard?

Collaboration for National Infrastructure Protection

From drinking water supplies to communications systems, chemical production processes to agricultural resources, Americans depend on a select group of critical infrastructures to sustain our way of life. Any attempts to harm or destroy these resources would directly impact the security of the United States and its citizens.

Most of these systems and services are owned and operated by private industry. Therefore, the protection of our nation’s infrastructure cannot be accomplished by the federal government alone. It requires coordinated action from numerous stakeholders – including government, the private sector, law enforcement and concerned citizens.

InfraGard is the critical link that forms a tightly-knit working relationship across all levels. Each InfraGard chapter is geographically linked with an FBI Field Office, providing all stakeholders immediate access to experts from law enforcement, industry, academic institutions and other federal, state and local government agencies. By utilizing the talents and expertise of the InfraGard network, information is shared to mitigate threats to our nation’s critical infrastructures and key resources.

Collaboration and communication are the keys to protection. Providing timely and accurate information to those responsible for safeguarding our critical infrastructures, even at a local level, is paramount in the fight to protect the United States and its resources.

Who is InfraGard?

Subject Matter Experts

At its core, InfraGard’s strength and effectiveness is based upon the subject matter expertise of its trusted membership.

An InfraGard member is a private-sector volunteer with an inherent concern for national security. Driven to protect their own industry and further motivated to share their professional and personal knowledge to safeguard the country, InfraGard members connect to a national network of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) communicate with federal law enforcement and government agencies through their local InfraGard chapters, and contribute to the security and protection of our national infrastructure from threats and attacks.

What does InfraGard protect?

Critical Infrastructures and Key Resources

Critical infrastructures are physical and cyber-based systems that are essential to the minimum operations of the economy and the government (as defined in Presidential Decision Directive/NSC 63, May 1998) Key resources are individual targets whose destruction would not endanger security on a national scales, but would create local disaster or profoundly damage national morale (as defined in Homeland Security Presidential Directive-7, December 2003) Together, critical infrastructures and key resources are so vital that their incapacity or destruction would have a debilitating impact on the defense, economic security, public health or national confidence of the United States.

InfraGard has SMEs around the country in each of the following 17 categories of critical infrastructures and key resources, as recognized by the National Infrastructure Protection Plan:

Critical Infrastructures:

• Agriculture and Food
  
• Banking and Finance
  
• Chemical
  
• Defense Industrial Base
  
• Drinking Water and Wastewater Treatment Systems
  
• Emergency Services
  
• Energy
  
• Information Technology
  
• National Monuments and Icons
  
• Postal and Shipping
  
• Public Health and Healthcare
  
• Telecommunications
  
• Transportation Systems
  

Key Resources:

• Commercial Facilities
  
• Commercial Nuclear Reactors, Materials and Waste
  
• Dams
  
• Government Facilities